THE FLATLEY DRYER

[Cathy]

The last three guys look as if they are about to explode .
Not attractive at all.
Research says that men may experience testicle and penis shrinkage, reduced sperm and erectile dysfunction. Oh dear!! Not worth the bother.

[Stanley]

I have to agree with you Cathy, I think they look ugly!

[Big Kev]

They would have trouble just walking, probably a very good chance of their trousers catching fire through friction

[Stanley]

The culvert under the canal at Hanging Bridge wharf, Salterforth. Give the canal company their due, they knew how to build. Stonework of this quality in a culvert is Flatley Dryer country these days.

[Stanley]

Nothing particularly interesting about this picture of a Pennine mill you might think. But this is Acre Mill near Hebden Bridge and it was an asbestos processing plant for Turners at Rochdale. This is the mill that featured in the landmark programme 'The dust at Acre Mill', part of Granada TV's World in Action series in 1971. (LINK) This was the start of revelations about Turners and asbestos that eventually shut them down and banned the use of asbestos in Britain. Flatley Dryer country now but we would do well to remember.....

[Tizer]

Was `Turners' anything to do with `Turner & Newall'?

[Stanley]

Yes Peter. See THIS Wikipedia article.
See also the book 'Magic Mineral or Killer Dust' by Geoffrey Tweedale, published in 2000. A comprehensive history of the company's refusal over the years to admit how deadly asbestos was.

[Tizer]

The reason I asked is that Turner & Newall's name was mentioned in a book I've just read about Rosalind Franklin, the crystallographer associated with Crick and Watson's double helix DNA work. That's what Franklin is best known for but she had another string to her bow which began before the DNA work and continued for the rest of her short life. She'd worked in France after the war then got a chance to return to Britain and to carry out further crystallography studies at King's College, London. She did initial research on different types of carbon in coal which proved useful in selecting the best coal for various purposes. Her boss wanted her to continue but she needed funding and he got money from Turner & Newall to support the work in future years. She became respected as probably the world's best experimental crystallographer and was as well known for the carbon studies as for the DNA work. After Crick & Watson used her data (got from her King's College boss but without her knowledge) to build their double helix model and publish it she left King's and moved to Birkbeck College and spent the rest of her life there. It raised a few eyebrows recently when King's had the cheek to name their new building the Rosalind Franklin Institute!

[Tripps]

The late Cyril Smith MP's contribution to the affair is interesting. Smith - Turner & Newall

[Stanley]

If ever a politician's past could be described as murky, it was Lord. During my time at Ellenroad I had a lot of contact with local politicians and the Council and I never found anyone with a good word to say about him.

[Stanley]

Apologies for the bad quality but I think this image is worth posting to illustrate an example of Flatley Dryer country.
This goes back to the 1970s when I was stripping the modern fireplace out of the front room at Hey Farm. Ny wife Vera acted as my labourer and wheeled the rubble out as I made it. I would suggest that it would be quite difficult to get a spouse to do this today......



This was the end result......

[Wendyf]

I think you are wrong Stanley. Wherever there is a man knocking things down and making a mess, his partner will be barrowing the rubble away to get the job finished and cleaned up as soon as possible! I was contemplating one such pile of rubble yesterday and wondering where I could barrow it to next to clear an area that's covered in weeds.

[Stanley]

I bow to your opinion Ma'am. (But I still think it's Flatley Dryer country.... Not everyone is a Wendy!)

[Big Kev]

I bow to your opinion Ma'am. (But I still think it's Flatley Dryer country.... Not everyone is a Wendy!)

Or a Paulette...

[Stanley]

[PanBiker]

Or a Sally, we set about our back yard yesterday. I moved the pots around and Sally jet washed as we went.

[Stanley]

This morning's Flatley dryer country is the time when we had a British Gas showroom on Church Street. You got a bill in the post and trotted into the shop to pay it and get the bill receipted. Never a problem.
I wish.... see energy matters!

[Stanley]

In the 19th century the building with the red doors was a pie shop. It sold not only individual pies but cooked hot pot and shepherd's pie. The customers were the mill workers who had been in the mill all day and needed a hot meal. This was the origin of today's fast food culture and the main trade that has survived those days is fish and chips. Catering for the workers is Flatley Dryer country, fast food today is aimed more at the leisure and convenience market.

[Stanley]

Workers leaving the mill at the end of the day. Flatley Dryer country now.....

[Stanley]

Preparing heavy horses for show at Sutton Coldfield Show in 1976. The draught horse is Flatley Dryer country now and we have lost many of the skills needed to work with them. The agricultural shows are one place where the arts survive and I wonder how many will have survived lockdown. There's something timeless about this image.....

[Stanley]

This image of Failsworth Co-operative Society reminds us of the days when the Co-op movement was such a strong influence. It still exists in principle but this sort of Cooperation is Flatley Dryer country now.

[Tizer]

Have a look at this article in Current Archaeology magazine for more on that topic! LINK

[Tripps]

Great link - I shall look closely later. thanks.

Looks like Oldham Athletic may be going throught the Flatley Dryer door -

There seems to trouble at t'mill. I mean Boundary Park, the home ground of Oldham Athletic. The crowd seeing their team currently being beaten and thus relegated out of the main league, to join Bury in oblivion, have surged on to the pitch, stopped the game and are calling for the resgnation of the Chairman. It's breaking news - I don't know the outcome.

My interest is that I was born in the nearby hospital which was then also known as Boundary Park, and I have a print of a picture by Joe Scarborough commemorating the 100th anniversary of the club. They've been in the League for 116 years.

Boundary park.jpeg

It's Number 16 of an edition of 300 and signed by the then Chairman (Ian Stott now sadly deceased) the Manager, and the artist. etc. Will these events make it scarcer and more collectable, or just irrelevant?

PS I learn that the current Chairman and owner is one Abdallah Lemsagam who doesn't seem to be too popular with the fans. Get out of our club

[Stanley]

I agree with David Peter, a very good article. Love the pic of Todmorden Co-op. My architect at Ellenroad, Peter Dawson, lives in Todmorden and he once told me that Tod had some of the earliest cast iron framed buildings in the country. That is of course why the shop can have such a large glass frontage.
David, I am not a a football man but can understand the fury of the fans when clubs are bought for reasons other than love and respect.Too many ownerships are vanity projects.

[Stanley]

A shilling in the slot gas meter. Hopelessly old fashioned now and obsolete, definitely Flatley Dryer country. However, they always worked........